Tim Wright with the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XLIX.
Before embarking on a career in the technological arena, Tim Wright played in the pro football one. A former tight end who spent three years in the NFL after going undrafted out of Rutgers in 2013—one each for the Buccaneers, Patriots, and Lions—Wright won a championship with New England when the team beat the Seattle Seahawks 28–24 in Super Bowl XLIX.
Wright played, but had no catches. He caught 6 touchdowns in the regular season.
While winning a Super Bowl ring may represent the pinnacle of one’s football career, it doesn’t represent the pinnacle of who Wright is as a person. In a recent interview with me conducted over email, Wright made crystal clear at the outset that he’s always believed himself to be “more than an athlete.” He described his life’s purpose as “[investing] in art, technology, big vision ideas, and making a difference in people’s lives.” The origins of Wright’s entrepreneurial spirit trace back to his days at Rutgers on the school’s football team, where he became the sole offensive captain; he carried these lessons into his playing career and elsewhere.
Wright believes this mindset has set him up well for success in life. “When preparation meets opportunity, success is inevitable… my discipline and acumen, coupled with my gifts as a visionary, shines through in my daily works,” he said.
Dome Audio is developing headphones inclusive of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
Today, Wright serves as chief strategic officer at Dome Audio. Founded in 2018 on the east coast, the company bills itself on its website as a “super boutique tech company” that works to “[bring] forth the most innovative, versatile, fashionable, and functional headphones in the headphone space.” Dome uses proprietary technology to offer so-called “open” and “closed” headphones—open being bone-conducting style, closed being the more traditional Beats-like style—designed to help people hear better all the while providing improved audio fidelity. Dome also offers interchangeable covers in a tech-meets-fashion play, akin to how Apple sells swappable ear cushions for its AirPods Max, introduced in December 2020.
Dome Audio’s D4 Headphones has an introductory price of $499.99 and can be preordered online now, according to Wright. The headphones come with a portable charging case and a pair of the aforementioned interchangeable covers.
In March 2020, New Jersey Discover published an exclusive interview with Dome Audio co-founder and chief executive Ben White, who talked about the origins of the company and its mission to bring “disruptive” headphones to market. The story came a little more than a month after the publication talked to Wright.
When asked about how Dome Audio fares against its competition in the marketplace, Wright said what separates Dome’s headphones is the “four-dimensional” experience. He describes it as pertaining to four pillars: audio (the sound), tactility (the feel), aesthetics (fashion), and emotion (the brand). Put together, they form an experience Wright and team is unmatched amongst the company’s contemporaries. These elements, he told me, “are Dome’s innovation and distinction,” adding Dome has committed to “write a new chapter in the evolution of headphones.” The headphones work with a companion app similar to how Apple’s Watch app on iOS serves as a mothership for the smartwatch.
Accessibility-wise, Wright explained disability inclusion through technology has long been an interest of his. In a nutshell, Dome aspires to create inclusive and accessible headphones for members of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Many people with limited-to-no hearing can enjoy sound through the vibrations made by the moving air. For Dome, A solid proof of concept plus positive feedback from testers propelled Wright and team to keep pushing forward with their work, with Wright saying it gave them “our inspiration to do the unimaginable.”
“Once it was clear what the opportunity was [to help people], our [research and development] to make the greatest impact possible with the finest quality and most heart-filled spirit took a life of its own,” he said.
Feedback on Dome Audio’s product has been “overwhelming” thus far. The company generates buzz by holding pop-up events at various locations; Dome has even been invited to appear at such prominent places as Gallaudet University, the world’s preeminent collegiate institution for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people. In addition, notable members of the Deaf community such as writer, rapper, and actor Warren “Wawa” Snipe and actor Rodney Burford have become brand ambassadors for Dome Audio. For his part, Wawa called the company’s headphones “sooo dope” in a Facebook post that he shared last March.
“It has been a complete honor to share our technology,” Wright said of the support from influencers in these early days for the company’s mission. “To witness this response with only prototypes is humbling to know that we are only scratching the surface of the impact our technology will ultimately have on the world.”
As for future hopes and dreams, Wright said Dome’s ambitions include an IPO, or initial public offering, on Wall Street or an opportunity to be acquired by a larger entity. In the meantime, Dome Audio is striving hard to “unequivocally demonstrate the full scope of our intellectual property and brand equity,” he said.
As for football? Getting to catch passes from Tom Brady is cachet unto itself.
“Playing in the NFL was truly an experience of a lifetime,” Wright said. “When the New England Patriots traded for me days before the season started, they must have thought it was important to make me lockermates with Tom Brady. That was a one-of-a-kind feeling to be under the wing of a GOAT. I’ll never forget, he said, ‘Timmy, welcome to the Patriots! I’m excited you’re here, let’s go win this!’”
Wright won a Super Bowl alongside Brady, telling me he’ll never forget standing at midfield as the clock hit 0:00 to end the game and feeling the celebratory confetti rain down on him. “[It’s] a feeling that will last forever,” he said. It’s a feeling, he hopes, can be captured again trying to grow Dome Audio into GOAT status itself.
